


On the side of the road

by rosepetal05



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Emma is sad, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, One Shot, Plot? What Plot?, i have not read this over so have fun, it's 1am what am i doing, it's actually terrible, kissing in the rain bitch, non-canon compliant, paul is awkward, say no to the apotheosis, that one monologue but i just rewrote it because... idk, tw: panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26046346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosepetal05/pseuds/rosepetal05
Summary: Paul offers to drive Emma home. Emma doesn't really do well in cars considering... you know
Relationships: Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	On the side of the road

**Author's Note:**

> Me? Write something with an actual plot? Never!  
> I really just wanted to get rid of this so it has pretty much no ending  
> Just a warning the perspective randomly changes uh... have fun
> 
> CW: Panic Attack

Emma sighed, glancing at the clock as she emptied the coffee grounds into the bin. 5:21. 10 more minutes before she could leave her god-awful job and walk home. She moved over to the pastries, pulling the sad, cold ones that no one had wanted out of the display case, choosing one to put in a bag and dumping the rest in the bin. Luckily for her, no one seemed to want to get coffee at 5 in the afternoon, and those who did just went to the Starbucks a block away. She was scraping the sandwiches into the bin when she heard the ringing of a bell, signalling that someone had entered the shop. She rolled her eyes before plastering her customer service smile on her face, spinning around to face the lone customer.

“Hi, welcome to Beanie’s! How may I help-” she started before stopping, her smile changing to a real one as she noticed who she was talking to.

“Oh, Paul! Hi!” she grinned, leaning over the counter, “Black coffee?”

“Yup,” he smiled nervously as Emma narrowed her eyes at him, “S-same as usual,”

Paul was the office worker who seemed to come in every day, always ordering his little Black CoffeeTM and tipping extremely generously. Sometimes he would come in with his super obnoxious friend with an aggressive moustache, or his nicer, extremely anxious looking friend who always wore cat sweaters. He had a painfully awkward crush on her, which was definitely not reciprocated by her. A little voice in her head wondered why she always cheered up when she saw his dumb face, why she went out of her way to make conversation with him in a way she definitely wouldn’t with other customers, but she ignored it. The only reasonable explanation was that he had Pavloved her with his constant tipping. She was not sure she appreciated being the dog in the situation, but hey, at least she got good money out of it.  
On this particular day, he looked a little… droopy. His face was slightly red, his hair plastered down on his face, and… was that water?

“Why is your hair all wet?” she asked bluntly as he approached the counter. Paul ran his hand through his hair, looking around as if he were shocked she was talking to him. Like he wasn’t the only person in the god-forsaken coffee shop. 

“I had to run out from my car,” he explained, “It’s pouring out there,” he gestured to the window behind him.

“What?” Emma craned her neck, finally noticing the streaks of water on the large shop window, “Shit! I have to walk home!” she exclaimed as she turned back to the coffee maker. She continued to release a string of curses as she angrily slammed the cup down on the bench, pouring the coffee a little quicker than usual.  
She heard Paul clear his throat behind her. Emma turned around, holding his cup of coffee with raised eyebrows. 

“I can drive you if you want?” he stammered, face flushing. 

“Paul, you don’t have to do that” she said, sliding his coffee over the counter, “Really, if I just run I’ll be fine-”

“No, I can’t let you do that,” he took his coffee, lingering his hand for just a second too long, “I’ll drive. Come on!” he began walking out. Emma watched as he left, weighing out her options. On the one hand, she probably shouldn’t be getting into cars with random customers, no matter how nice (and cute) they were. But it would be great to go home in a nice, warm, car instead of freezing outside in her work outfit. And she had to close up soon anyway. She sighed, and followed him, stopping only to lock the doors behind her.

* * *

They drove in a comfortable silence, Paul rhythmically tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. He looked over at Emma and smiled. She had slumped slightly in her seat, leaning comfortably against the window. She looked peaceful, a stark contrast to her tense demeanour at Beanie’s, where most of the time she was yelling, or flipping off customers. Her face had relaxed into an expression of content, her eyes flickering as she watched the scenery outside. As he was distracted, a car pulled out of an adjacent street, causing him to jerk the steering wheel, the car swerving suddenly. The screeching tyres assaulted his ears, and he had to fight the urge to put his hands over his ears. Paul struggled with the steering wheel, taking a few seconds before he got the car back under his control. He cast the car a dirty look as he sped past. 

“Sorry about that. People really need to watch it, huh,” he chuckled, glancing over to Emma and doing a double-take. She was sitting upright in her seat, face a pale white and hands clenched tightly. 

“Emma?” Paul asked softly, “Are you okay?” 

It was a stupid question. She didn’t respond, only digging her nails further into the sides of her seat. Paul quickly pulled over and rushed around to the passenger door, yanking it open and kneeling next to the seat. She had begun panting, eyes staring unfocused straight out of the window as tears fell freely. 

“G-get. Me. Out-” she demanded through heavy breaths. Paul sprang into action, fumbling with the seatbelt and hauling the frozen girl out onto the curb. He pulled out an umbrella, shielding them from the rain as they sat on the wet footpath. After hesitating for a few moments he slowly put his arm over her shoulder. Instead of shying away like he thought she would, Emma leaned into him, placing her head on his chest and digging her nails into his outstretched hand. 

“Hey, just breathe. Okay?” he said when he noticed her short and shallow breaths, demonstrating a few deep breaths for her to follow. 

“You can feel the ground right?” A small nod. “It’s pretty wet, huh? Try to focus on it, okay Emma? We’re not in the car anymore, we’re safe. We’re on the ground,” he spoke softly, desperately trying to remember what Bill used to do for him when he had panic attacks. He rubbed her back, trying to calm her down. He could feel her tears soaking his already wet work shirt, but strangely, he didn’t mind. He continued to mutter softly to her, until the sound of ragged breathing was replaced by the heavy pattering of the rain. 

“You want to talk?” he asked hesitantly after she had calmed down. She was leaning into his chest, her eyes closed as she breathed in time with him. 

“My sister-” she started, her voice breaking. She shook her head slightly, lifting it off his chest and turning away from him, avoiding meeting his eyes.

“She died in a car accident a few months ago. Drunk driver.”

“Oh Emma,” Paul said, “I’m so sorry,”

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” Emma turned back to face Paul, sighing. The sigh was an unspoken decision, prompting her to shuffle back slightly, looking as if she were mentally preparing herself for what was to come. 

“She was the better sister. She was everyone’s favourite person. She was mine too. Then I fucked off to Guatemala for ages. While I did that, she got married, had a kid, got a perfect life like everyone expected her to. She was a constant, you know? You could rely on her to post some picture of her kid to Facebook every week, to show off a new fucking gluten-free, sugar free, vegan recipe she had tried. She had that suburban mum life. If anyone was going to die young, it should have been me. Me, off galavanting in the fucking wilderness. The shitty one.”

“But I didn’t. She died, I lived. I had to go to her funeral, see them lower my sister down into the ground. And everyone was staring at me. They were thinking it too. That it should have been me. But death always takes the good ones, I guess. But I don’t care what they thought. I came back for her, not for the fucking town of Hatchetfield who were going to judge my life decisions. I guess I’m trying to get the life she wanted me to have. Putting myself through community college by working my shitty job at Beanies. I’m not sure if she would be proud of me, friendless and unaccomplished, but I guess it’s a nice sentiment,” 

Emma looked up at him, a few stray tears running down her face. She was open, vulnerable, her lip trembling as she clearly tried to stop more tears from falling. Paul reached out and wiped her face gently with his thumb. 

“Hey,” he said, “I can’t say whether or not your sister would be proud of you, but I would be. Moving back here couldn’t have been easy. I see you at Beanies. You hate that job. But you still go in everyday, so you can support what you want to do. If Jane wasn’t proud of that, I’d say she’s crazy. The fact that you were brave enough to come back, that you’re trying? That’s enough.”

Paul had no idea where the words he were saying were coming from. But, looking at Emma, he could tell they had helped. She wiped her face, her shoulders less tense as they had been before. It was as if a weight had been lifted. Not a massive weight, but a weight nonetheless. She began to peel herself away from his body, wrapping her arms around her body for warmth. As she lifted her hand to brush a strand of hair from her face, Paul realised everything he said was true. He really did admire Emma for doing all that she had done. He knew what the citizens of Hatchetfield were like, all nosy and up in everyone’s business. They would be talking, that’s for sure. He couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to move away and then come back like Emma did. He really liked her, too. She was funny, and sarcastic, and really cute, and Paul really just wanted to kiss he-

Paul shook his head, blinking hard. He could not be thinking about kissing her, not now. Firstly, she had literally just had a panic attack on the side of the road. Secondly, she probably didn’t want to kiss him. And kissing is kind of a two-party activity. He turned back to her and holy shit she was leaning towards him. He sucked in a breath. Fuck it. 

Paul leaned down towards her, tilting his head slightly. He opened his mouth, beginning to speak, but was cut off by Emma pressing her lips to his. Paul made a small noise of surprise, before closing his eyes and leaning into the kiss. The hand that had been holding the umbrella dropped, letting the rain fall freely onto them, soaking them further. Paul vaguely wondered at the cliche of kissing in the rain, but his brain was more focused on the fact that he was kissing Emma in the rain.

The warmth of Emma’s breath cut through the cold air as she moved her lips slowly against his. Her lips were slightly chapped, but it just made her all the more endearing to Paul. She kissed him like he was the only thing distracting her from everything going on in her life. Her hands gripped his back, arms, hair, constantly touching him as if to make sure he were real. She tugged his head back slightly, deepening the kiss. Paul was more than happy to follow suit, letting Emma lead, giving her the comfort that she needed. 

Eventually, Paul reluctantly pulled away from the kiss, leaning his head back, letting raindrops fall on his face. At some point, the sun had set, leaving the two illuminated by a street lamp nearby. They sat unspeaking, the sound of their heavy breathing carried away into the night. Paul glanced down at Emma to find her staring at him. He grinned and raised his eyebrow in challenge. 

“Damn,” she broke the silence, shaking her head slightly. 

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” she glanced down, smiling, “I just wasn’t expecting that to come from-” she gestured idly with her hand “-you.

“Uh-” Paul ran his fingers through his hair “-thanks? I think?”

Emma laughed, giving him an exaggerated thumbs up. It was infectious, and Paul couldn’t help laughing too, causing the two of them to descend into mad giggling. Anyone who happened to be passing by probably thought they were crazy, two random people sitting on the sidewalk in the rain and keeled over in laughter, but Paul didn’t care. He sighed happily, running a hand through his hair. Emma took on a more solemn expression, taking his hand in hers.

“Thank you,” she whispered, leaning her head against his chest, “for everything,”

“Any time,”

**Author's Note:**

> idk man i'm sorry  
> not to be thirsty but kudos and comments are always appreciated!! if you want!!


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